Extra! Extra! Read all About It! (Newspapers)

#33 - Interests: Extra! Extra! Read all About It! (Newspapers)

Our previous post looked at books owned by the Drums. Now for some light reading!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The Drums read newspapers, too!

Not only READ them, sometimes we were even IN the newspapers! If you are going to be IN a newspaper, for a GOOD reason, of course, you want to be on the front page. If you are on the front page, you want to be “above the fold”. That way your picture is seen when the papers are stacked waiting to be sold at the news stand.

Here I am, IN the paper, ON the front page, ABOVE the fold! Yikes!

If you want to know more about this story, the post “No BOOM is Good BOOM!” will explain it all.

However, whether we were in the papers or NOT, we surely were READING the papers! The oldest printed document I’ve found to date among the stuff saved by previous Drum Family Tree Members, was a newspaper.

Printed in 1831, one month prior to the death of George Drum, our ancestor who brought us to the valley that has become known as “the Drums Valley”, here is Der Correspondent. In a previous post I wondered if this might have been the last thing George read before he died. I can just see him, sitting at a table reading this paper by the light of a candle or an oil lamp.

I imagine Nathan S. Drum sitting in his favorite wing-back arm-chair, bathed in the warm glow of his oil-lamplight, turning the pages of that day’s edition of the Hazleton Plain Speaker. Perhaps he was chuckling over a note about HIMSELF, seen in the Carbon Advocate of Lehigh, PA[1] or the Lancaster Intelligencer[2] of Lancaster, PA; both of which reported that he had been chosen to attend the state Democratic Convention of 1887. Perhaps he was rubbing his forehead as he read in the Freeland Tribute on July 24, 1890 that the “Merchant Nathan Drum” had been selected for Jury Duty to begin on September 5, 1890.[3]

I can even see him pointing out to his wife that his uncle Abraham’s son George was listed in the Hazleton Sentinel on August 12, 1880. It’s possible he read it out loud to her, saying something like, “Look here, Elizabeth! Here it says that ‘Geo. Drum, the popular landlord from Butler, spent a few hours in town yesterday.’[4] Well, I’ll have to ask him what he was up to, next time I see him!”

We think it might have been Nathan’s name-sake nephew, Nathan A., the coal miner, who, now by the light of his new electric-light lamp, clipped the political cartoon by Bluckton entitled “The Robber and his Victim” from the New York Thrice-A-Week World in 1896.

It is apparent that the Drums got much of their information from newspapers. The “Hat Box Collection” of documents, almanacs, receipts, and other papers mentioned in previous posts, included, in addition to this cartoon, an assortment of clippings from newspapers from 1870 into the 1930’s. 

The following photo includes just a few of these many clippings (some dated, some not) found in the hat box.

Included in the photo are clippings on topics about, among other things, (1) “Uses of Lemons”, (2) “Pie-crust Recipe”, (3) instructions for making an electric engine, (4) tanning, (5) how to make paint from sour milk, and, (6) the 1925 60^th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Smith. There is even a clipping filled with various medicine preparations entitled (7) “Clip this Out!” So, they did!

According to clipping #8, a reunion of Union and Confederate Soldiers was held in Gettysburg in 1913. The photo shows a Union Soldier’s Widow greeting a Confederate Soldier. Beside that is a clipping (9) of the evangelist Uldine Utley. She’s the one with her hand in the air. The clipping is undated. She looks young in the photo. We know she was 18 in 1929 so, this is probably earlier than 1929, perhaps 1925. It is also hard to say what paper it was clipped from but below the photo it says the photo was taken in New York.  Below her clipping is a clipping about the (10) death of America's "Hymn Queen" Fanny Crosby. She died February 12, 1915 so one assumes the clipping came from a newspaper published about then. She wrote thousands of hymns in her lifetime, one of her best-known was Blessed Assurance.

Someone (Uncle Jake?) had an eye for the odd and curious. From a 1904 paper we get a (11) picture of “Jack, the freak bull” (He’s on the right side of the picture under the (12) Gyroscope car clipping).

Jake probably also was the one who clipped the story about Rose the Monk-Faced Chicken (see below). No date was saved with this clipping but it looks like it might have been from the 1920’s (when Jake’s scissors seemed to be the most active). 

August 28, 1923 is the date attached to the story about Ruth Bouche’s legs which had apparently just been insured for $25,000 (A sizeable sum even for these days but, to give context, that dollar equivalent for today would be $373,608!). To round out the photo, we see a clipping about Henry Ford and one showing the founders of the GAR. Further along in this post we will come to a cartoon from 1908 showing the evils of alcohol. The GAR Founders photo is on the back of that cartoon clipping. Both subjects must have held interest to the clipper, however, since the full cartoon is clipped out, seemingly indicating that was why the piece was clipped, but the GAR Founders are titled in pencil “Founders of the G.A.R.” as well.

If you watch a lot of late-night television, you’ve probably seen a few commercials, or “info-mercials” as they’ve become known, that seem ready to end only to hear the announcer say, “But WAIT! There’s MORE!” And so it is here as well!

Here are two cartoons, one about Summertime safety and one concerning the evils of drinking.

The smaller one is urging summer-time safety by showing all sorts of unsafe activities. the fellow leaning against the tree is the “Fool-Killer” He says he takes his vacation in the summer because the “fools” take care of things then themselves. 

The image includes hunters shooting each other, climbers falling into a crevasse, swimmers diving into the lake head-first, a sky-diver with an unopened parachute, etc. 

Whoever clipped it wrote “Fools” on the cartoon. No indication of when or in what publication it was published but it does not appear to be on newspaper paper.

An interesting aside about this cartoon concerns who appears in the cartoon. I’ve often lamented how hard it is to follow women in History, so little attention is paid to them and their contributions. This cartoon may be the women’s payback! There are only two individuals depicted in the cartoon that even MIGHT be female! And I’m not certain they are! One is near the impending train/car wreck and the other is depicted as only two feet sticking out of the water by the overturned canoe. The feet appear to be wearing women’s style shoes (higher heels as might be seen in an older woman’s pump). The rest are all men. Is this an admission that only men, or mostly only men, are fools?

The larger cartoon is from 1908. It is a commentary on the evils of drinking (men spending money on liquor while family members watch through the window, weeping). This is the clipping mentioned above that has the G.A.R. Founder article on the back.

Next in the pile we find an article about the passing of Captain Straw. The Straw family was a prominent Drums Family throughout the 1800’s. They played a large role in the Drums Methodist Church and owned and operated lumber mills along the Nescopeck River. In 1838, “Andrew and Mrs.” Straw had a son they named Cyrus. Cyrus lived an eventful and active life which is probably why (probably) Jake clipped it for his archives!

As usual, Cyrus's mother is listed in the article only as "Mrs.".  Her name was Christina Boger Straw. She was born in 1819 and died in 1870 at the age of 51. I am uncertain what year she married Andrew but she and Andrew had five children together, Cyrus being the first.  In 1872, Andrew married again, this time to Lovina Drum^{(Philip, George, Jacob, Philip)}. Lovina was born in 1835, 23 years Andrew’s junior but three years before Cyrus. Lovina lived 86 years, dying in 1921.

The article lists the following occupations of Cyrus: Banker, Teacher, Businessman, Musician, and Butler Township School Director. In 1885 he was elected County Commissioner. Not mentioned is that he was a Tax Collector, too. Here is his autograph from 1877 that proves it.

The article goes on to say that Cyrus was a soldier in the Civil War. He was wounded in the hip during the Battle of Antietam. This battle took place over a 12-hour period on September 17, 1862 at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. (The North usually named battles after geographic features such as rivers, creeks, etc.  The South named battles after near-by communities so, in the South, Antietam is known as the “Battle of Sharpsburg”). This battle was a pivotal battle of the Civil War, not because it changed the course of the war, but because it became the “positive” news Lincoln was seeking in order to announce his Emancipation Proclamation.

Most observers did not refer to it as a victory. At best, this bloody battle was a stand-off with some giving a slight edge, perhaps, to the Union forces. However, Lincoln was seeking a Union victory so he could announce his Emancipation Proclamation while the country’s spirits were high. He chose to use this battle as his “victory” even though it was, and still is, the battle with the highest number of casualties in U. S. Army history: 12,401. Cyrus would have been counted in this number. The south, with fewer solders on the field, arguably took the heavier hit, losing 10,316. It was a horrible loss of life and limb for both sides.

Cyrus’s grave is the second stone from the right.
It is decorated with an American flag.

“Due to disability”, Cyrus Straw was mustered out in 1863 with the rank of Captain. He was still walking with the aid of crutches sixteen months after his return to Drums. In 1867 he got married. His first business was destroyed by fire so, according to the article, he became a Lumber Dealer in Drums and “felled the forests between Nuremburg and Humbolt, around Honey Brook and between West Hazleton and Conyngham.” Cyrus Straw died in 1915 and was laid to rest in the Drums Cemetery across from his beloved church. 

The abduction and murder of Marion Parker was, apparently, a big news story in 1928. The man executed for her murder was Edward Hickman. True to form, it was clipped from the paper. I’m pretty sure it was Jake who clipped it out as well. Sounds like a pretty gruesome event. Hickman was hung by the State of California for this crime. I guess that ended that.

The Panama Canal was a big deal in the years just after the turn of the century, 19^th to 20^th. People had been thinking about cutting across the Isthmus of Panama to make getting around the world quicker almost from when the Isthmus was discovered! Plans for a canal were being discussed as early as 1524! However, it wasn’t until the 1890’s that things began to move forward. A few alternate plans were discussed, the final route chosen, malaria overcome, and, in 1906, construction began. The canal opened in October, 1913, officially in 1914, but the world waited until 1920 to formally dedicate the thing. Jake clipped a flurry of clippings from various newspapers about the whole (hole?) business and here they are.  

First, we see Col. George W. Goethals, “Master Mind of the Panama Canal”. This Army officer was the engineer who oversaw the construction of the canal for most of the work. He took over the project in April of 1908 and saw it through to completion. President Taft was going to appoint him as the first Governor-General of the Panama Canal Zone in 1913 but abandoned the plan due to a political controversy that did not involve Goethals. The large photo appeared on January 18, 1913 in a Chicago paper (the clipping does not include the publication name).

On the back of this clipping is what appears to be a photo of the Woolworth building in New York City which opened in 1913 as the Tallest Skyscraper in the world; the second tallest structure in the world, second only to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Below this picture are two headlines of interest, unfortunately, neither story was cut out and saved with the clipping. “Dirt Flies Faster” reads the first with a sub-heading: “Canal work showed a good gain last month.” A second sub-heading under that reads: “’Big Ditch’ to be completed this year and first vessel will go through in October.”

Beside that is the headline: “Eight-Foot Bath Tub Is Ordered for Taft”. However, it does not appear the tub was in the White House. The sub-head reads: “New Haven Hotel Fits Up Special Suite for Use of the Ex-President at Yale.”

The smaller photo of Goethals in the picture above was clipped out of the Hazleton Daily Standard or so it would appear. There is part of an ad for Deisroth’s Store, a popular department store in Hazleton at the time, on the back of this clipping. It was probably part of the Daily Standard's coverage of the Canal that was printed in its February 18, 1913 edition.

Finally, according to the next clipping from a paper out of St. Paul, Minnesota called The Rural Weekly dated October 16, 1913, the canal was completed on October 10, 1913 when President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal to Goethals at 2:00 pm to blow up the Gamboa Dike, the final permanent barrier separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which he then did. The photo caption says, “As the great detonation broke the silence…a prolonged cheer arose that was heard from Panama to Colon and four miles into the interior.”

For me, the interesting thing about the clipping is the paper it was clipped from: The Rural Weekly! We know Jake did the clipping of this piece for sure because his name is included in the address label still glued to the picture (near right hand side of the clipping). Uncle Jake sure read a lot of newspapers! The arrow in the photo is pointing to the location of the Gamboa Dike.

It was also Jake who saved his copy of the May 23, 1913 edition of the Valley Vigilant, nearly the whole paper. We know we again can thank Jake for this piece of the collection, because his name is written on it in pencil. It is only an assumption, however, that it was Jake who did that writing. You can just make it out in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

The paper is over 100 years old and was stored folded into fours as the gaps in the photo above suggest. Over the years the paper became brittle and broke away at the folds so words from the story have been lost, however, enough still exist that we can make out the story being told. And that is important because the story being told is the top story in the paper, the one above the fold! It is the probable reason Jake kept at least two full sheets of its pages.

It is the story of the capture, in Detroit, and how he came to be there, of, as described in the article, the “once prosperous merchant and highly respected citizen” of Drums, Charles Brighthaupt.  Just as this piece of the collection is long, the story is lengthy, too. It’ll be covered in more detail in the next post whose title has been “ripped from the headlines” as they say: #34 - “…and Blames Inn Across the Way.”

I wish Jake, if it was Jake who did most of this clipping, would have included sources and dates on his clippings. Most of them are just items clipped from, well, someplace!

Among the various unsourced/undated clippings in “The Hat Box” was this fine piece announcing the death of William Jennings Bryan. Unfortunately, the article ends with “(continued on page four)” but page four was not included in the box. Sigh.

Details, Uncle Jake. Details! They are important!

Mr. Bryan was a dominant force in the Democratic Party from at least the 1890’s until his death in 1925. He gained national notice by serving as a democratic member of the U.S. Congress 1891 – 1895. In 1896 he was chosen as the Democratic Presidential nominee, an honor he held two more times after this one. Today, he is probably most remembered for his speech given at the 1896 National Democratic Convention known as the “Cross of Gold”. He also served as U. S. Secretary of State in the Wilson Administration from 1913 – 1915.

Bryan died July 26, 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, so we, at least know the paper was published close to that date. The information, and an ad, on the back of the clipping refers to activities in Freeland, PA placing the publication in this area. It could be from a Freeland newspaper but my guess is that it is more likely from the Hazleton Standard Sentinel.

Actually, I haven’t even begun to make a scratch in the various clippings and newspapers that various Drum Tree Members have retained over the years. A box in the attic, a drawer in the closet, a box in storage, heck, I haven’t even described all of the clippings in the photo of clippings shown earlier in this post, let along the clippings NOT in that photo!

William Sachse, age 55, died of appendicitis on February 13, 1924; A prayer meeting was held in Hazleton (we have the account of the meeting, just no clue of when it was held!); A poem in memory of Harry Readler; an announcement of the death of U. S. President Calvin Cooledge’s father; Rev. Safflett retired; George Dreisbach’s “Indian Legend of Tresckow Falls”; Decorative stitches clipped from the April 1913 edition of Farmer’s Wife; Etta Adams is now Mrs. Wilson Freidland; and so forth and so on and on and on.

As I re-read this post, I find that alcohol played a huge role in a number of the stories: the cartoon of 1908, Mr. Brighthaupt’s undoing due to alcohol, the role the Drums Hotel played in his undoing; even one of the recipes offered in the “Clip This Out” clipping noted above calls for certain ingredients to be added to “half a pint of good whiskey”! As that is the case, I offer this final paper for this post. This is not just a clipping, it’s the whole dang paper. It was in a box of papers saved in the attic, not in the Hat Box.

The paper comes from Youngstown, Ohio. It is dated December 23, 1933. I don’t know why we have it or who saved it.

In 1919, the United States passed a constitutional amendment (#18) that made the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal (It was, apparently, still [no pun intended] ok to drink alcohol if you could only get it!). The amendment took effect at midnight on January 17, 1920. The United States was “dry” throughout that entire decade and into the early 1930’s. However, by 1933 the people of the United States had had enough of the “Noble Experiment” as Prohibition was called at the time. The twenty-first amendment was passed which canceled out the 18^th and liquor and beer once again flowed from bar taps and bottles across the country.

This paper shown below is announcing that Youngstown, Ohio Drug Stores had been given the green light to sell liquor, apparently the first establishments allowed to do so in Youngstown. The article states that sales of alcohol by the glass are still illegal but will be lawful soon. I suppose from a local point of view, this is the correct headline, and surely the news that Prohibition had ended had been announced earlier in the month when it happened, but in this paper, down in the lower right hand corner, we see the  headline “Prohibition Ends in Ohio.”

And on that last drop of information, we empty our glass and bring our newsstand almost to a close. I say “almost” because there is still that one last story to look into. Come back on October 8, 2019 for post #34: “…and Blames Inn Across the Way” to learn more about Charles Brighthaupt’s story and find out what roll he says the Drums Hotel (the “Inn across the way”) played in his downfall. After that we’ll continue to investigate what members of the Drums Family Tree were reading by taking a look at what kinds of technical reading the Drums were doing by the glow of their lamps. Post #35 will provide "specs" for that topic.

Until then, however, let’s go across the street and have a drink…

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[1] Carbon Advocate, Lehigh, PA, August 6, 1887

[2] Lancaster Intelligencer, Lancaster, PA, August 4, 1887

[3] “Jury Duty”, Freeland Tribute, Freeland, PA, July 24, 1890

[4] “Personal”, Hazleton Sentinel, Hazleton, PA, August 12, 1880

The Squirrel

Contemporary History #10 – The Squirrel

I think that in Pennsylvania, it is illegal to feed large game animals such as Elk, Deer, Bear, and Wild Turkey. I say “I think” because I’ve just spent an hour googling the question and the responses I got, including the law, itself, seemed ambiguous. I got information that said a ban has been proposed (nothing said if it was accepted), or that you can’t feed animals with the intent to shoot them (so what if you don’t want to shoot them?).  Some of the information I’ve seen says you can’t feed ANY wildlife. Except wild birds. That was the one clear piece of information I found. You can feed wild birds but I get the impression the Game Commission folks scowl upon even that.

As an aside, by the way, Wild Turkeys are wild birds. I’m just saying.

I like feeding birds: Cardinals, Goldfinches, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmouse, Purple Finch, Downey Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, those screechy Blue Jays, even the House Sparrows and House Finch that sit and eat for hours are welcome. Heck, I may not enjoy them most of the time, but even the Starlings are sometimes fun to watch, especially when they get after each other over a snippet of suet, only to lose it in the end to a woodpecker.

I don’t feed the birds because I think they’ll starve without my few handfuls of seeds to get them through till tomorrow. Nope, my reason for feeding them is far more self-serving and selfish. I enjoy seeing them. That’s it. Totally.

 

 I don’t know why the Red-Bellied Woodpecker is called that. As far as I’m concerned, the head is redder than the belly!

Even I have to laugh at myself when I get all excited over seeing some bird I’d not seen before come to visit my feeder: a Rose-Breasted Nuthatch or a Chipping Sparrow, or what I think was a House Wren!

I don’t feed anything else, other animals, that is. Well, that’s not the goal anyway. I think a chipmunk took up residence below my feeder to grab seeds that fell his way. A number of years ago, when the feeder still belonged to my mom, we saw a hawk take a sparrow. However, my intent is to just feed the birds some seeds and suet. That is the goal and I do all I can think of to achieve that goal (of feeding only the birds).

This past March I found a large, empty bag in my yard that looked like one of my 40lb. sunflower seed bags. As I recall, it said “Wildlife Food” or some such thing on it. I thought that was an odd thing to have blowing across my yard so I put my trash in it and gave it to Mr. Cunfer, our trash man. Then I found another one out in the area I call my “park”.

Dad had an apple orchard at one time beside the house. I’ve allowed it to return to a more natural state but I keep a path cut through it for exercise and nature observation. These are two photos of the path. You have to look very closely to see it, but in the photo on the left there is a blue and white Pepsi bottle. I guess I'm not the only one to enjoy my park!

An invasive rose-like plant that I think is Rosa rugosa seems to be trying to overtake my property. When the plant blooms in the spring it does produce a lovely aroma. That seems to be its only redeeming quality.

Some of it grows along Butler Drive which runs beside by my park. If it would just grow only there, I’d welcome more of it as it makes a pretty good fence. But it doesn’t just grow there. It wants to grow everywhere; everywhere creating great clumps of thorny strangles. It was deep within one of those thorny strangles that I saw another of these bags, again empty. I left it there. I wasn’t about to fight the rugosa thorns to get it out!

Anyway, it appears someone was feeding the deer, on my property. I know it wasn’t me! I’d like whoever it is to stop, at least on my property. I can see it now, the Game Commission Ranger at my door with a summons. “But officer, it wasn’t me!” I’d be yelling as they drag me off to Game Commission Prison or whatever they do with wildlife-feeding scofflaws.

Actually, there is one other animal I apparently feed. I stress this is not my goal. My goal, once again, to be sure we are very clear, is to feed the birds. I do all I can to not stray from this goal. However, I know my goal is about to be over-ridden when I’m working at the computer, or watching TV, or reading, and I suddenly hear a “thump” on my roof.

Beside our house is a Norway Maple. My mom planted it in the 1990’s. I’d have chosen a Red Maple for the vibrant Autumn Leaves but she apparently liked the purple leaves of the Norway Maple year 'round. 

I understand that now we consider this tree to be as invasive as that d__n R. rugosa monster but when she planted it, she bought it from a local nursery; they were selling it for its ornamental quality. The squirrel climbs this tree and then jumps across to my roof (that’s the thump). If I listen closely enough, I can then hear the pit-pat of his little paws as he runs across the roof. If I get to the kitchen in time, where the feeder is hanging outside the window, I can catch the moment when he then hops from the roof onto the post the feeder hangs from and climbs down onto the feeder to begin his meal.

Bird feeders aren’t made for a creature of his size. So, he does struggle some to stay on the feeder, finding all sorts of acrobatic ways to get to the feeder and at the seeds.

The feeder in the video is the feeder I had in 2017 when I first moved back to Drums. It actually was the feeder my mom had hung (well, I had hung it for my mom). That lasted until spring when the squirrel decided to cut through all the acrobatics and just go for broke. He chewed through the nylon cord I had hung the feeder with causing the thing to fall to the ground, causing the thing to break into a number of pieces. Somewhere deep within the darker corners of my heart, I’m sorry to report, I secretly hoped he got hurt when the thing fell; not badly, but just enough to learn a lesson.

My first-ever feeder was a metal mesh feeder I got when we moved to Ashland, MA in 1984. When we bought a house in Grafton, MA in 1988, I made a wooden feeder and bolted it to the house outside one of the windows. In the following photo, this feeder can be seen. It had two shelves where seeds could be poured. Lots of birds like feeders like this, especially larger birds like the Blue Jays. There are no perches to balance on. Just fly in, grab a seed, and go.

Of course, as can be seen in the photo, squirrels liked it too, for that very same reason! Except they don’t grab and go, they sit and eat. Our first cat, Max, can also be seen in the photo. She would sit and watch the squirrel and the squirrel would keep an eye on her. Oh, how she would have LOVED it if I would have just opened that window…  She watched the birds come as well. When they came, she would sort of chortle deep in her throat until the birds flew away. Eventually, she’d grow tired of the show and go curl up for a nap.

Our next move took us to Maine. Our apartment there didn’t really have a good place for a feeder so I left the wooden one behind for the new owners to enjoy (or remove!). 

Our next move came in 1999 to Virginia. For that location I bought a nice plastic feeder made by Rubbermade. I’d forgotten about the metal mesh one!

The Rubbermade Feeder was a great feeder! I liked it so much that I kept it even though we didn’t have a place to hang a feeder when we lived in Maryland. When I headed back to Maine in 2015, I took that Rubbermade Feeder with me and hung it out on the little deck of my second-floor apartment.

In the video we see a Nuthatch and a few Chickadees. Situated where this feeder was, on a second-floor deck, it was never visited by a squirrel the entire two years I was there.This video was taken during the first, wait, maybe it was the second, blizzard Maine experienced in 2017. 

Yes, Maine was hit twice that year; the first one hit on February 13 and the second one hit a month later, on March 14. A bit more research tells me the video and these two "snowy" photos were taken during the February storm. By the time we got to number two, the March storm, the feeling was, “Who cares? Here we go again!” So photos were not made.

I liked this Rubbermade feeder so much I brought it back to Drums with me in September 2017, even though I knew Mom’s feeder was still hanging where I’d hung it for her. 

Yes, we get snow in Drums, too!

When Mom’s feeder crashed to the ground, I remembered that Rubbermade feeder and, using a heavy gauge wire, hung it in the same place.

The Rubbermade feeder had a door in the roof that you used to refill the feeder. Squirrels are problem solvers. After some months of figuring, the squirrel solved the problem of how to open that door. So, using more of that wire, I wired shut the door. This frustrated the squirrel no end. The photo to the right is the Rubbermade Feeder before the squirrel figured out how to open the door (which, by the way, he is sitting on in this photo. Shhh Don’t tell him) The feeder seen being visited by the Goldfinches in the earlier photo above is also this Rubbermade Feeder, but AFTER I wired the door shut. The wire holding the door shut can be seen in that photo.

Unable to open the door any longer, the squirrel went back to balancing himself in various positions on the feeder such that he could enjoy all of the seeds he cared to enjoy, which he would do for hours on end, emptying the feeder in very short order.

Susan Kalada, owner of the “The Bird’s Nest Shoppe and More”, a boutique that sells all things bird feeding and more located in the former Drums Post Office building on North Old Turnpike Road, told me about a feed she had that was laced with cayenne pepper. Apparently, the pepper does not bother the birds but it plays havoc with mammal tongues and throats. Instead of buying her seeds, I bought some cayenne pepper powder instead and laced my own seeds.

That did the trick - somewhat. The squirrel began to chow down on those seeds until the pepper began to have its effect. The squirrel jumped back, rubbed its paws over its face a number of times, jumped up onto the post and rubbed its face on the post some, then jumped up onto the roof and back to the Norway Maple. However, he didn't give up. He came back only to repeat this procedure. If the burn was bad enough, he sometimes just jumped to the ground and ran away.

I actually felt sorry for the little fellow.

I did not stop using the pepper, however. I didn’t feel THAT sorry!

I had a friend in Maine who loved a local Chinese Restaurant’s “Hot and Spicy Soup” which she’d order extra spicy; the greater the burn, the better. She’d take me to lunch there and order this soup for herself, extra spicy. There she’d sit, tears streaming down her face, as she moved spoonful after spoonful of this soup into her mouth, all the while exclaiming how good it was; all the while with tears continuing to flow copiously down her cheeks! I mention that because that’s how it got with the squirrel. He’d sit there and eat and eat until it appeared that he just couldn’t stand the burn any longer, at which point he’d run away. He still didn’t like having to balance either so he continued to seek ways to get in from above, too. If only that wire wasn’t there…

I began to see chew marks in the feeder’s roof.

I began to wonder if I should be scared to sleep in the house at night.

One day I came out to the kitchen to find the squirrel balanced on the feeder biting off bits of the roof. Not eating seeds, mind you, nipping off bits of the roof overhang. This activity continued for a week or so, each nip bringing him closer to the reservoir of seeds. The nips became a notch in the roof. At first I thought he was just making it easier for himself to sit on the feeder as the notch perfectly fit his back. But he kept nipping and the notch continued to grow. Eventually, it passed the wall of the reservoir and became a hole in the roof. The hole grew larger, too.

This pleased the Blue Jays because they were almost too large for the feeder as well but just right for grabbing seeds through this hole in the roof. The House Sparrows, who like to sit for hours and just consume seeds, liked it too. One day I found that a sparrow was now INSIDE the feeder, happily sitting and eating.

That must have given the squirrel the idea. He kept nipping, the hole continued to grow larger, until one day I came out to find the SQUIRREL now INSIDE the feeder. Of course, he still had to maneuver around the pepper so there were still frequent occasions of his hustling out and running away, only to have him return again the next day and each time, staying longer.

Finally, the birds stopped coming. Who can eat with a squirrel in your face, or beak, as the case may be? So, I waited (what else was there to do?) until the squirrel finished off the rest of the seeds that remained in the feeder, leaving behind just empty shells – and cayenne pepper.

Once the squirrel, too, stopped coming (meaning the seeds had all been consumed), I took down the Rubbermade feeder. Here it is.

Oh look! There to the right you can still see some of the Cayenne Pepper! Also, if you look closely at the roof, on the sixth row of “shingles” in from the left, you can see a few of the first chew marks in the roof.

Where is the hole, you ask?  Let me turn the feeder around for you so you can see the other side. That’s the side with the hole; and the door, too. 

Since I now once again needed a new feeder, I began looking into what feeders were available in the area to be purchased. Then I remembered the old metal mesh feeder still stored in the basement, I replaced the Rubbermade with the mesh!

I apologize for the blurry spot on the feeder. I took this through the kitchen window and was unable to clean the window prior to taking the photo. I couldn’t get a photo from outside either for the same reason, which is that there is a wonderful, great big spider’s web right below the feeder, just out of this picture, and I didn’t want to disturb her (the spider's) work. I saw she did have a grasshopper recently caught in her web so she will eat well this weekend.

Nothing has returned yet to feed at the feeder. It will take a bit of time for the birds to realize there are seeds here again. Same thing for the squirrel. When they do, the birds will find lots of seeds and the squirrel will find that he will have to re-learn all those acrobatic moves again if he wants to steal more seeds. He may even be so heavy (probably from eating all those seeds previously!) that he breaks the chain and brings the mesh feeder down. But that’s OK. This one won’t break.

One more thing for sure, he ain’t chewing a hole in THIS feeder!